Technical problems have contributed to an increase in missed recycling pickups in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Sherwood since June, Waste Management officials said Wednesday.
Waste Management is the contractor for the three cities for curbside recycling via the Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District. Waste Management also has a contract fo̶r̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶b̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶y̶c̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶M̶a̶u̶m̶e̶l̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶r̶u̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶t̶r̶i̶c̶t̶ to accept the city’s recycling at its materials recovery facility in Little Rock*. A message left with the city of Maumelle was not returned Wednesday.
"It's certainly become an issue," North Little Rock spokesman Nathan Hamilton said.
"They'll miss whole streets, sometimes whole neighborhoods," he said. "And it's all over the city."
In Little Rock, the city received 413 missed recycling pickup complaints via its 311 system in June, 272 in July and 319 in August after receiving an average of 166 complaints per month in during the three months prior to June.
Waste Management has about 90,000 customers in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Sherwood. It provides the service through a seven-year contract with the cities that will expire in 2019.
Two different spokesmen for Waste Management, George Wheatley and Jordan Johnson, said a lack of access to compressed natural gas to fuel five of their seven trucks led to problems one week, but said they didn't know what contributed to missed pickups during the other summer weeks.
Metro on 09/15/2016
*CORRECTION: Waste Management has a contract with the city of Maumelle to accept the city’s recycling at its materials recovery facility in Little Rock but does not contract with the city to pick up curbside recycling. The city runs its own curbside recycling program. This article incorrectly described the relationship between the city and the company.